Spring-coiling machine



M. M. CUNNINGHAM.

SPRING COILING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.5. 191a.

Patented Dec. 23, 1919.

Inventor- Major M. Cunningham, by j g I;

His yltcor'neg UNITED STATES PAT MAJOR M. CUNNINGHAM; or scnmvnc'rnmr, NEW YORK, nssfcnoa 'ro GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK. I

SPRING-COILING- MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application flled Augustfj, 1918. Serial No. 248,249.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MAJOR M. OUNNIrIo- HAM, a citizen of the United States residing at Schenectady, in the county of Schenectady, State of New York, have lnvented certain new and useful Improvements in Spring-Coiling Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to spring coiling machines such as are used to make coiled springs from straight wlre and has for its object generally to pr0v1de an 1mproved structure in a machlne of this character.

For a consideration ofwhat I believe to be novel and my invention attention 1s directed to the accompanying specification and claims appended thereto.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a top plan view of a machine embodying my inven-' driving shaft 11 which carries at one end. a gear wheel 12. Shaft 11 may be driven in any suitable manner. In the present instance it is shown as being driven by a pinion 14 which meshes with gear wheel 12, and is carried on a shaft 15 which in turn may be belted or otherwise connected to an electric motor or other similar source of driving power. Carried by gear wheel 12 is a pivot pin 16 on which is pivoted one end of a connecting rod 17, the other end pivotally connected to a sliding rack 18 to which it imparts reciprocating motlon. Pivot pin 16 is located in a groove 19 formed in a cross-bar 20. attached to gear wheel 12 and it is adapted to be adjusted and clamped at any point along the groove 19. By the means the distance of pin 16 from the center of gear wheel 12 can be varied to ad]ust the length of the reciprocating stroke imparted to rack 18. The length of the stroke imparted to rack 1.8 determines the number of turns made in the coiled spring, as w ll appear hereinafter. Rack 18 is guided in its movements by a key 21 and sultable brackets 22 and meshes with a pinion 23 on the lower end of a vertical shaft 24. Shaft 24 is supported by a stop bearing (not shown) at its lower end and its upper end is carried in a bearing sleeve 25 which forms a part of a flat support 26 carried by a vertical'rib 27. On the upper end of shaft 24 1s a gear wheel 28. The reciprocating movement of rack 18 imparts an oscillatory movement to gear wheel 28. Gear wheel 28 meshes with a wide faced pinion 29 fixed on a vertical shaft 30 carried in a guide bearing 30*. Shaft 30 may be termed a winding shaft. On the upper end-of winding shaft 30 is a screw thread 31 which meshes with a thread on the end of a stationary arm 32 carried by a bracket 33. The screw thread on the end of arm 32 amounts in substance to a stationary nut and when winding shaft 30 is turned first in one dimotion and then in the other, by gear wheel 28 it will at the same time have imparted to it a vertical reciprocating movement due to the thread 31 turning on the stationary Patented Dec. 23, 1 .919. 7

thread on theend of arm 32. Whenwinding shaft 30 moves vertically pinion 29 slides across the face Of gear wheel 28, and pinion 29 is made sufficiently Wide to always remain'in mesh therewith. On the lower end of winding shaft 30 is a winding finger 34 of a diameter equal to the diameter of the wire coil to be made and it is around this that the wire is coiled. Adj acent' the upper end of finger 34 is a short downwardly projecting pin 35 fixed to windin shaft 30. Pin 35 is instrumental in putting a hook at. the upper end of the spring. At one side of winding shaft 30 is a stop arm 36 having its lower end turned at right angles to face windin shaft 30 and on such end is a shoulder 3 (see Fig. 3).which is also a part of the hook forming mechanism for the upper end of a spring. On the end of driving shaft 11 opposite to that on which gear wheel 12 is located is a bevel gear wheel 38 which meshes with a bevel ear wheel 39 on a cam shaft 40. On cam s aft '40 is a cam 41 which operates a reciprocating cutting off tool 42 carried by sliding plate 43. Plate 43 is provided with a roller 44 with which the cam directly engages and it is biased to a position. against the cam by a spring 45. On cam shaft 40 are also two cams 46 and 47 which operate a fixture for putting a hook in the wire at the lower end of the spring. This fixture comprises a shaft .18 carried ina support lf) and adapted to both oscillate and slide therein. On one end shaft in is provided with a pair of spaced projecting pins 50 (Fig. and at the other end with a pinion 5i and two spaced nuts between which is located the end of one arm of a bell crank. This bell crank lever is pivoted at 54 and its other arm 55 extends to a point adjacent cam shaft i0 and is provided with a projection 56 adapted to be engaged by cam 46. Cam l-G causes the bell crank lever comprising arms 53 and to impart a reciprocating movement to shaft 48 each time cam 46 engages the projection 56. Meshing with pinion 51 is an idler 57 (Fig. 6) with which meshes a ge .r wheel 58, and meshing with gear wheel 58 is a rack 59 on one end of a lever (30. Lever 60 is pivoted at 61 and its other end is providedwith a projection 62 adapted to be engaged by cam 47. \Vhen cam 47 engages projection 62, lever (50 is turned on its pivot 61 and through the gearing as shown in Fig. 6 imparts a turning movement to shaft 48. The bell crank lever comprising arms 53 and 55, and lever 60 are biased toward their respective Ctlll'lS 46 and 47 by a spring 60 having one end connected to arm and the other end to lever 60. (33 indicates a wire from which the coiled springs are tobe formed. A suitable snpply of it may be arranged on a spool adjacent the machine and fed forward as needed. The end of wire ()3 is carried in a guide 64 which terminates adjacent the winding finger 34c and it is fed forward at certain times by a pair of rollers 65 and 66 between which the wire passes. Rollers (35 and 6 are normally not in contact with wire 63 but roller 65 is flexibly supported and is adapted to be pushed to 'ard roller 66 to clamp the wire 63 between the two rollers by a cam 67 on shaft 40 which engages a pin (58. Pin (38 is biased to a position away from roller 65 and toward cam (37 by a spring 69. Associated with the shaft which carries roller 66 is a pawl and ratchet mechanism for turning the rollers (35 and 66 to feed forward the wire 63. In the present instance this mechanism is illustrated as comprising a ratchet wheel 70 fixed to the shaft which carries roller 66 and a gear wheel 70 loose on such shaft and provided with a pawl 70 for moving ratchet wheel 70. Meshing with gear wheel 70 is an idler 71 and meshing with idler 71 is a rack 7 9. carried in a guide 7 3 and provided at its end with a roller 74 adapted to be engaged by a cam 75 on shaft 11. On rack 72'is a stop 76 and a spring 77 holds stop 76 against guide 73.

The operation is as follows: assume that the machine is running and that the parts are in the positions shown in Fig. 1, a spring having just been completed. \Vire 63 has been fed forward against stop 36, the end of it lyingagainst shoulder 37 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and cam 67 on shaft 40 in engagement with pin 68 thus holding the wire clamped between rollers 65 and (36 to maintain it firmly against stop 36. The winding finger 3. occupies the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. the wire (33 being located between finger 3i and pin 35'as shown in'Fig. 4. Gear wheel 12 now moves the rack 18 forward or toward the left (Fig. 1) turning pinion 23 and gear wheel 28 which latter turns the winding finger 3-l in the direction of the arrow in Fig. i. This first brings the pin 85 around to the position shown in Fig. 5. where it catches "wire (33' and "in sliding. it off the shoulder 37 puts a hook in it as is illustrated in Fig. Pin 35 also serves to firmly hold the end 'ofthe wire during the coiling operation which follows. As the winding finger 34'turnsit driven ,upward due to the threaded end of the winding shaft be ing in engagen'ientwith the threads on the end of the stationz'iry arn' 32, and the wire is coiled around the winding finger to form. a spring as is shown in Figs. 6 and 7. As the wire begins to coil around the winding finger, cam 67 moves away from pin 68 thus permitting roller 65 to move away from roller 66 so that the wire 63 mavmove for ward freely. The wire is coiled around winding finger 34 until therack 18 reaches the end of its movement toward the left and as will be clear theextent of this movement and hence the number of turns in the coil depends on the adjustment of the pivot pin 16 with respect to the center of gear wheel 12, the longer the stroke of rack 18 the greater the number of turns. As rack 18 approaches the end of its forward movement. cam shaft 40 brings cam 41 into engagement.- with roller 44 and moves the cutting off tool-42 toward the wire 63 to cut it off. At the same time cam 46 turns bell crank lever 55, 53 on its pivot 5% thus moving shaft. 48 toward the wire to bring the two spaced pins 50 astride the wire at the end of the coil which has just been formed. By this time the cutting off tool 42 has severed the wire and the position of the pins 50 relative to the lower end of the coil is as shown in Fig. 6. lever 60 on its pivot 61 thus moving rack 59 which through gear wheels 58, 57 and 51 imparts a slight turning movement to shaft :8 thereby bending the end of the wire into a hook as shown in Fig. 7. As soon as the hook is formed cams 46 and 47 move away from projections 56 and 62 and spring 0 immediately brings bell crank lever 55 53, lever 60 and shaft 48 back to their original positions. In the meantime cam 41 has Cam 47 now turns moved away from roller 44 and has returned the cutting off tool normal position.

spring 45 42 back to The completed spring with a hook at each end then drops off winding finger 34 into a suitable container. At about this same time cam 67 has again come into engagement with pin 68 thus clamping the wire 63 between rollers 65 and 66 and cam 75 on shaft 11 now strikes roller 74 giving a short forward movement to rack 72 which results in turning roller 66 and feeding wire 63 forward into engagement with stop 36 where it will be held by the rollers during the return movement of rack 18. The pawl and ratchet mechanism 70, 7 O permits rack 72 to return to its normal position without turning roller 66 ,in a re verse direction. The return movement of rack 18 brings the winding shaft 30 and winding finger 34 down agaln to the dotted line position of Fig. 3 and the parts are then in position to form another spring.

In'the present instance the hook at the lower end of the coil (Fig. 7) projects downwardly and faces toward the right but as will be clear it may be made to extend and to face in any direction by varying the location of shaft 48 and the, direction of turning. Also the extent of the turning movement may be varied to vary the amount of twist in the hook.

In accordancewith the patent statutes, I have described the principle of operation of my invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider provisions of the .to represent the best embodiment thereof;-

but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and n can e that the inventio carried out by other means.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a machine for making coiled springs from Wire, the combination of a Winding finger around which the wire is coiled, means for holding the free end of the wire during the coiling operation, a shaft located at a right angle tothe wire and havin spaced pins on its end, a gear member on t e shaft, a lever having a rack which engages said gear member, a second lever connected to said shaft for moving it axially, the ends of said levers terminating adjacent each other, a counter shaft, and cam means there- 'on for actuating said levers to move said first named shaft axially so the pins thereon engage the wire and turn it so the pins form a hook in the end of the wire.

2. In a machine for makin coiled springs from wire comprising a win ingfinger and means for turning it and moving it axially, a fixture for forming a hook in the Wire after the spring has been coiled, comprising a shaft located at an angle to the wire and having spaced pins on its end, a gear member on the shaft, a lever having a rack at one end which engages said gear member for turning the shaft, a second lever having an end which engages said shaft to move it axially, the other ends of said levers terminating adjacent each other, and cam means automatically operated which actuate said le-' vers to first move the shaft axially to bring the pins into engagement with the wire and then turn it so the pins form a hook in the end of the wire.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set myhand this 3d day of August, 1918.

MAJOR M. CUNNINGHAM. 

